ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Annie Malloy started getting sick in 2020. Fits of uncontrolled vomiting would hit, causing debilitating nausea and severe dehydration that would send her to the emergency room. She couldn’t keep weight on, and the vomiting got so bad she was admitted to the hospital 26 times that year.
Malloy, one of the 15.8 million low-income people enrolled in California’s Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, racked up extraordinary health care costs while her doctors struggled to diagnose her illness. One hospitalization for a patient in a Medi-Cal managed-care program can cost nearly $18,000, on average.
And as she was struggling to understand the cause of her illness, without stable housing, Malloy’s health deteriorated further. Treatments such as potassium and electrolyte infusions helped manage her symptoms, but Malloy continued to get sick and rely on the emergency room. She was couch surfing and living in a dilapidated residential motel, unable to find an apartment on her $1,850 a month in Social Security Disability Insurance income. The stress of her housing search only compounded her health problems.
